Removing cookie not working in PHP

Question

It's kind of weird, but I set a cookie with:

setcookie('auth', 'ok', time() + 3600, "/");

Result:

Name:   auth
Content:    ok
Domain: --.com
Path:   /
Send for:   Any kind of connection
Accessible to script:   Yes
Created:    Tuesday, July 11, 2017 at 11:00:23 PM
Expires:    Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at 12:00:23 AM

It works fine, but when I want to remove this cookie:

setcookie('auth', 'ok', time() - 3600, "/");
unset($_COOKIE['auth']);

there is no change in the result, and the cookie is not removed, and I still got this cookie in my browser.

The cookie is created in this URL:

auth.php?action=confirm

and call a function with ajax:

model/auth.php

And it should remove it in this URL:

auth.php?action=logout

But it is not working. Any idea?

Try to set value as `null` when erasing cookie and time to `-1` but any time in the past should work. — unalignedmemoryaccess, Jul 11 '17 at 18:53
Have you tried `setcookie("auth", "", time()-3600);` ? defining empty value — JTC, Jul 11 '17 at 18:53
@JTC yes, i also tried `null` but not working , empty and null.. still have this cookie — Pedram, Jul 11 '17 at 18:55
@tilz0R you mean `setcookie('auth', null, time() - 1, "/");` ? still not working — Pedram, Jul 11 '17 at 18:55
@JTC not possible because read this topic before. Im sure `domain` and `path` are same. — Pedram, Jul 11 '17 at 18:59

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 04 '18 at 11:13

0

A clean way to delete a cookie is to clear both of the $_COOKIE value and browser cookie file:

if (isset($_COOKIE['auth'])) {
  unset($_COOKIE['auth']);
  setcookie('auth', '', time() - 3600, '/'); // Empty value and old timestamp
}

edited Jan 04 '18 at 11:13

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 11 '17 at 18:55

Harpreet Singh

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did it change browser cookie file to null? – Harpreet Singh Jul 11 '17 at 19:00
no nothing changed. i insert this `if (isset($_COOKIE['auth'])) { echo "ok";}` and it print `ok` i mean it detect that cookie but can't delete or change. – Pedram Jul 11 '17 at 19:02
should check this https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2856366/problems-deleting-cookies-wont-unset – Harpreet Singh Jul 11 '17 at 19:10
i read this topic before, already read again, nothing changed. – Pedram Jul 11 '17 at 19:12

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 04 '18 at 11:14

0

Most likely you are outputting some data before destroying the cookie.

Try to check this, and before any output use this code:

setcookie("auth", "", time()-3600);

With this $sent = headers_sent($file, $line); you can see if some data have been outputted before you tried to destroy the cookie.

edited Jan 04 '18 at 11:14

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 11 '17 at 19:02

JTC

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 14 '23 at 13:17

You have to check if the path is also correct. You can do this by opening microsoft edge -> settings -> cookies and site permmision -> see all cookies -> search for the domain name of your site -> click the drop down and find the cookie name -> view the imformation. Under the information you will find path. The path is not always "/"

Then just replace "/" with the path you find there. example if the path is "/abc"

setcookie('auth', null, time() - 3600, "/abc");

You might be able to find cookie info on other browsers but I only found how to do it on microsoft edge.

Removing cookie not working in PHP

3 Answers3